Cigarettes Down, Marijuana Use Steady in Teen Survey

Federal officials report a yearly survey suggests cigarette and alcohol use by eighth, 10th and 12th-graders are at their lowest point in more than 25 years.

However, abuse of other tobacco products (e.g., hookahs, small cigars, smokeless tobacco), marijuana and prescription drugs remains an issue.

The Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey has been administered since 1975 and is one of three major surveys sponsored by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services that provide data on substance use among youth.

Researchers say that even though some areas are improved, survey responses suggests more teens continue to abuse marijuana than cigarettes; and alcohol is still the drug of choice among all three age groups queried.

“That cigarette use has declined to historically low rates is welcome news, given our concerns that declines may have slowed or stalled in recent years,” said National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) director Dr. Nora D. Volkow.

The 2011 results showed that 18.7 percent of 12th-graders reported current (past-month) cigarette use, compared to a recent peak rate of 36.5 percent in 1997 and 21.6 percent five years ago. Only 6.1 percent of eighth-graders reported current smoking, compared to a recent peak of 21 percent in 1996 and 8.7 percent five years ago.

Officials would like to see the cigarette reduction decline even more.

“The actual decline is relatively small compared to the sharp declines we witnessed in the late nineties,” said Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H., assistant secretary for health.

For alcohol, 63.5 percent of 12th-graders reported past year use, compared to a recent peak of 74.8 percent in 1997. Similarly, 26.9 percent of eighth-graders reported past year use of alcohol in 2011, compared to a recent peak rate of 46.8 percent in 1994.

There also was a five-year decrease in binge drinking, measured as five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks, across all three grades. Binge drinking was reported by 6.4 percent of eighth-graders, 14.7 percent of 10th-graders, and 21.6 percent of 12th-graders, down from the 2006 rates of 8.7 percent, 19.9 percent and 25.4 percent respectively.

One area in which declines were not noted was in the use of marijuana.

Among 12th-graders, 36.4 percent reported past year use, and 6.6 percent reported daily use, up from 31.5 and 5 percent, respectively, five years ago. The upward trend in teens’ abuse of marijuana corresponded to downward trends in their perception of risk.

For example, only 22.7 percent of high school seniors saw great risk in smoking marijuana occasionally, compared to 25.9 percent five years ago. Similarly, 43.4 percent of eighth-graders reported that they saw great risk in smoking marijuana occasionally, compared to 48.9 percent five years ago.

A new concern for policy makers is the use of synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or spice. As such, this substance was included in the survey for the first time in 2011. Surprisingly, 11.4 percent of 12th-graders reported past year use.

“K2 and spice are dangerous drugs that can cause serious harm,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy.

“We will continue to work with the public health and safety community to respond to this emerging threat but in the meantime, parents must take action. Parents are the most powerful force in the lives of young people and we ask that all of them talk to their teens today about the serious consequences of using marijuana, K2, or spice.”

There was mixed news seen in the non-medical use of prescription drugs. Abuse of the opioid painkiller Vicodin was reported by 8.1 percent of 12th graders — similar to 2010 and down from 9.7 percent in 2009. There was also a decline reported by 10th graders — to 5.9 percent from 7.7 percent in 2010. However, no such declines were seen for the opioid painkiller OxyContin.

In 2011, the non-medical use of the ADHD medicines Adderall and Ritalin remained about the same as last year among 12th-graders, at 6.5 and 2.6 percent, respectively.

There was, however, a significant decline in the abuse of over-the-counter cough medicine among eighth-graders, down to 2.7 percent in 2011 from 4.2 percent in 2006, when the survey first asked about its abuse. A similar decline in cough medicine abuse was seen among 12th-graders, to 5.3 percent from 6.9 percent five years ago.

“To help educate teens about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, NIDA is launching an updated prescription drug section on our teen website,” said Dr. Volkow.

“Teens can go to our PEERx pages to find interactive videos and other tools that help them make healthy decisions and understand the risks of abusing prescription drugs. We are also encouraging teens to provide feedback on these resources through NIDA’s teen blog, Sara Bellum, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or email.”

Overall, 46,773 students from 400 public and private schools participated in this year’s MTF survey. Since 1975, the survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes in 12th-graders nationwide. Eighth and 10th graders were added to the survey in 1991. Survey participants generally report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month.